Device for bending toy rails



May 10, 1932.

DEVICE FOR BENDING TOY RAILS F. OTTENSTEIN Filed May '19, 1951 4 5 2 5a 77 7 a a Patented May 10, 1932 UNITED STATES FRIEDRICH OTTEN STEIN, OF NUREMBERG, GERMANY :onvrcn non BENDING TOY RAILS Application filed May 19, 1931, Serial No. 538,548, and in Germany May 9, 1930.

This invention relates to an apparatus operated by hand for bending lines for toy railways, which is intended as a hand tool for mechanical building boxes and with which the child can bend pro-file rails, more particularly hollow or solid rails for toy railway tracks to a given or to any desired radius of curvature.

The use of two feed rollers and a bending roller is known in operating on a large scale with bending rolling mills and rounding machines. According to the invention, however, three pairs of rollers are mounted vertically in a casing framework in a special manner for obtaining the desired object, namely an adjustable pair of feed rollers to be turned by a hand crank and a further pair of rollers serving for guiding and directing the rail in a straight line and a third adjustable pair of bending rollers. The bending device 1 according to the invention forms a component of a building outfit for making tracks for toy railways.

In the accompanying drawings a constructional example of the invention is illustrated.

Fig. 1 shows the hand bending apparatus in perspective, Fig. 2 a plan of the bending apparatus with the cover removed and Figs. 3

and 4 an end view of the bending apparatus one showing the feed rollers and the other the bending rollers.

On a horizontal rectangular bridge plate 1 of a frame 2, with perforated securing webs 3 at the end, is secured a rectangular casing framework 4, 4a, 4b, 40, open at the narrow sides in which are mounted three pairs of rollers 5, 5a, 6, 6, 7 7, arranged side by side. The rollers all have such a shape that the space 8 between them has the outline of a I-shaped solid profile rail 9.

The middle projecting part 10a the rollers 5, 5a, is corrugated but the similarly constructed rollers 6, 7, are quite smooth. The rollers 5, 6 and 7 are firmly rotatable on axles cannot move. On the other hand, the roller axles 12 and the axle 13, are mounted in the 11,12 while the roller 5a is secured to an limbs of U=shaped stirrups '14, 15, displaced horizontally in the casing. The stirrup15 embraces only the roller 5a and can be. adjusted at right an les to the longitudinal axis of the casing by means of a screw 17 passing through the side wall 40 of the casing and a strengthening plate 16 provided thereon. The limbs of the stirrup 14 on the other hand pass through the longitudinal walls 46, 40, of the casing and its displacement is effected by means of a second screw 18. The rotation of the adjusting screws 17 and 18 is effected, preferably by a square key but 7 may also be effected by small cranks, handles or the like. In addition to an elongated hole 19 in the cover plate 4a, of the casing for moving the crank axle 13 sideways, there are provided in the plate 4a oil holes 20 and slots 21, which latter make it possible to see the work piece 9 running'between the rollers and make possible easy cleaning of the rollers and space line between them.

The method of operation of the device is as follows:

The device is secured to a bench or other suitable support by the webs 3. The stirrup 14 is then adjusted by turning the adjusting screw 18, so that the rollers 7 are brought into the off set position with respect to the 1 rollers 6, which is necessary to bend the work 80 piece running through these rollers to a given curvature. Now the work piece, for example, according to Fig. 1 a profile rail 9 is placed bet-ween the feed rollers 5, 5a, and the roller 5a is pressed against the rail by means of the adjusting screw 17. Through the corruga tion of the-rollers 5, 5a, the web of the rail is firmly grippedso that when the crank 13a is turned in the direction of the arrow A in Fig. 2, the mill) is pushed against the rollers 6 and 7 in the direction of the arrow B. Since the rollers 6 are in line with the rollers 5, 5a, the rail 9 remains straight between these rollers 5, 5a, 6, 6. As soon as the rail passes between the rollers 7 7, however, it will be bent on account of the offset position of these rollers 7 with respect to the rollers 6 and thus receives a curvature which it retains on leaving the bending device. In this way the rail 9may receive a greater or less curvature 1 according to the greater or less displacement of the rollers 7.

For simple building outfits a bending device in which the rollers 7 are mounted in the frame 4, without being adjustable is sufficient. In this case of course, the arrangement of the adjusting screw 18 and of the U-stirrup 14 is not necessary.

What I claim is A device for bending rails comprising a frame, a stirrup slidable in the side walls of the frame, a second stirrup slidable in the frame, a feed roller carried by the latter stirrup, a second feed roller journaled in the frame, a: pair of axles fixed in the frame, ini termediate rollers journaled on the axles, and means for adjusting the first named stirrup to change the relative position of the rollers carried thereby with respect to the intermedi ate rollers, means for rotating the feed roller carried by the second stirrup, and means for adjusting the second stirrup as and for the purpose set forth. a

In testimony whereof I have signed my 5 name to this specification.

FRIEDRICH VOTTENSTEIN. 

